In the process of shipping a part from one location to another, a protective packaging material is typically placed in the shipping container to fill any voids, provide blocking and bracing, and/or to cushion the part during the shipping process. Some commonly used protective packaging materials are plastic or cellulose foam peanuts, plastic bubble wrap, shredded paper or cardboard, and converted paper pads. Converted paper pads, being made from paper and particularly kraft paper, are biodegradable, recyclable and composed of a renewable resource. Consequently, converted paper pads have become increasingly important in light of many industries adopting more progressive policies in terms of environmental responsibility. The conversion of paper sheet stock material into relatively low density paper pads may be accomplished by a cushioning conversion machine, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,026,198; 4,085,662; 4,109,040; 4,237,776; 4,557,716; 4,650,456; 4,717,613; 4,750,896; and 4,968,291. (These patents are all assigned to the assignee of the present invention and their entire disclosures are hereby incorporated herein by reference.)
By controlling the conversion machine, such as through the use of a controller that may be programmed, pads of a variety of lengths can be created. This feature allows a single machine to satisfy a wide range of cushioning needs. For example, relatively short pad lengths can be employed in conjunction with small and/or unbreakable articles, while longer pad lengths can be employed in connection with larger and/or fragile articles. Moreover, a set of pads (either of the same or different lengths and/or different configurations such as a star, a cross or a spiral/coil) can be employed in conjunction with uniquely shaped and/or delicate articles, such as electronic equipment.
In some instances, a manufacturer or shipping interest may ship a wide variety of parts wherein each of the parts has different packaging requirements. While a cushioning conversion system, such as that described above, can provide a wide variety of pads of different lengths at the request of the operator to meet the differing requirements, it is often a time consuming process to determine for each part presented the best way to package the part and then to instruct the cushioning conversion machine to produce the required number of pads having the appropriate lengths. Also, the reliability of the packaging operation is oftentimes dependent on the skill level of the operator, in particular the packer. In the case of complex packaging systems involving the packaging of many different types of product with different packaging requirements, the necessary skill level may preclude the use of low cost, low skill packers (or operators in general).
Another consequence of shipping a wide variety of parts having different packaging requirements is the variability of consumption of packaging materials used the pack the part or parts, such as dunnage stock material, tape, containers (cartons, boxes, etc.), etc. Heretofore, the monitoring of packaging material inventories was accomplished manually by a person checking the inventory levels and reordering additional supplies when needed. In the case of paper sheet stock rolls used in the aforesaid cushioning conversion machines to produce dunnage pads, typically an order for the stock rolls and/or other packaging materials would be placed with a distributor. The distributor would then fill the order from stock on hand or place an order with its supplier to directly ship the packaging materials to the end user. Like in the case of the end user, the monitoring of packaging material inventories at the distributor's facilities was accomplished manually by a person checking the inventory levels and reordering additional supplies when needed. These existing systems have been labor intensive and time consuming.
A need therefore exists for improvements in packaging systems, and particularly in the efficient and effective packaging of parts in containers and in the efficient and effective maintenance of packaging material inventories.